Published on Sep 19, 2005
There was really no way to screw this one up. With five albums and a couple of tribute compilations, cherry-picking STP's biggest hits sounds like a simple task. After all, the band sounded their best on the 15 singles represented here.
Now that the band is gone, looking back and listening to this disc reveals how popular and original they were. While some critics quickly dismissed this band as a grunge rip-off, the truth is they tried to be a famous alt-rock arena band, and succeeded admirably — for a while.
This collection draws mainly from the band's first three albums, all classics in their own right, and hearing the tracks here is a rush. Songs like "Plush" (which won a Grammy) and "Big Empty" were among the best alt-rock offered in the 90s. But few realized the influences of STP and how the band drew equally from grunge, classic rock, psychedelic rock and especially glam rock. Nowhere is this more evident than in "Interstate Love Song" and "Wicked Garden," two of the band's best songs, and in the Beatles-esque "Lady Picture Show."
There is nothing missing here. "Sex Type Thing" never gets old, its clunky beat a guilty pleasure, while "Sour Girl" is a nifty slice of psychedelic pop and "Vasoline" a hazy glam tribute. Even the later songs fit just as well, the heavy stomp of "Down" and the easy pop of "Days of the Week" filing in nicely next to "Big Bang Baby" and the slow acoustic crawl "Creep."
An acoustic cover of "Plush" is tossed on, and it rivals the original, while a new track called "All in the Suit That You Wear," recorded for the first Spider-Man movie, showed the direction the band would have taken if Scott hadn't been busted for heroin — again — and left for Velvet Revolver.
The band's albums offer refinement of the themes here and are worth picking up. But for a snapshot of what alt-rock had to offer in the 90s and a great intro to a great band, this is perfect.